Stetson panelists: Funds needed for mental health care

The discussion was made all the more relevant by news this week of a University of Central Florida student planning a shooting spree on that school's campus before taking his own life.

ANTHONY DeFEOSTAFF WRITER

DELAND — A panel of four professionals discussed the state of mental health care and violence in schools and communities during a forum Wednesday night at Stetson University, noting funding to treat people with mental illnesses or disorders keeps shrinking. It was the second of two forums about community safety the university hosted. The panelists included Amy Hall, a counseling specialist with Volusia County Schools; DeLand-based psychologist Ivan Fleishman; Nancy Jacobsen, a family and marriage therapist; and Meghan Walter, the coordinator of Stetson's school counseling program. The forums on community safety — and particularly, this one about mental health — were sparked, in part, by the December shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn. The discussion was made all the more relevant by news this week of a 30-year-old University of Central Florida student planning a shooting spree on that school's campus before taking his own life. "Mental illness is an epidemic in this country that is still amazingly overlooked, mistreated or not treated at all," said Brigid Noonan, chair of Stetson's Department of Counselor Education, who moderated the forum. She went on to stress that while addressing mental health issues is an important step toward addressing violence, the vast and overwhelming majority of people with mental illnesses are not violent. In fact, most people with mental illness go on to live perfectly normal lives, she said. Hall opened her presentation with some statistics on mental illness. About 18 percent of children and adolescents may have a mental disorder, with about 5 percent being severely emotionally disturbed, she said. "Mental disorders do not discriminate," Hall said, noting most students with mental health problems are regular, general diploma-seeking students, not students in exceptional education programs. "I really believe Volusia County Schools has been very proactive in our response to mental health. We have come a long way and we still have a long way to go," said Hall, explaining some of the steps the district has taken. Those steps include better tracking of students who may possibly be at risk or pose a risk to others, as well as partnering with community mental health agencies. Yet, she also lamented the ever-shrinking resources for mental health, noting her department has lost 35 percent of its staff in five years. Walker, who, in her position at Stetson educates many who want to be school counselors, spoke a bit on the need to increase the quality and qualifications of school counselors, as well as increasing mental health resources in general. "The bottom line is that school-based mental health programs do work. When schools have programs and services in place, we see it reduce a whole lot of different outcomes in students," she said, including disciplinary referrals and the violent use of weapons. Jacobsen spoke about the issue of funding for resources outside of schools. "When I started in the mental health field in 1979 we actually had money labeled 'prevention.' We could do groups for all kinds of people, groups meant to take the pressure off regular people and help them deal with their regular lives," she said. "That money is gone." At the same time, on the other end, funding for treatment has "shrunk and shrunk and shrunk," Jacobsen said. She recalled a time when she worked in the Florida Keys on a committee that decided which mentally ill children qualified to receive resources and which didn't — an experience that made her sick. Fleishman took the issue of resources and funding by the horns, at times delving into political and cultural issues. He said because of the United States' history, American culture has an unhealthy emphasis on rugged individualism, looking down on anyone who needs assistance. "We have this kind of Darwinian view of the strong survivor, that if you break down you're a taker and you don't appreciate what you have," said Fleishman. He pointed out other developed countries, such as those in Europe, actually recognized mental illness as a social problem and funds services adequately, but there is a reluctance to do so in the U.S. "If we don't pay for it in taxes to prevent it, which is much less expensive, we will pay for it in other ways that are more expensive, such as our prisons filling up," he said.